Published 2:33 pm, Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Oak Ridge running back Braden Letney runs for yardage during the Klein Collins vs. Oak Ridge football at Woodforest Bank Stadium in Shenandoah. Photograph by David Hopper

Oak Ridge running back Braden Letney runs for yardage during the Klein Collins vs. Oak Ridge football at Woodforest Bank Stadium in Shenandoah. Photograph by David Hopper

Photo: David Hopper, Freelance

Oak Ridge finds winning ways

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Oak Ridge bounced back in a big way.

After falling to Morton Ranch in their season opener, the War Eagles exploded for 70 points last week in a 70-21 win over Aldine.

"We were definitely pleased with the effort of our kids as far as correcting some of the mistakes that were made in the opener against Morton Ranch," coach Dereck Rush said. "We still have a lot of things to work on … but the kids came out focused and played a pretty good game overall."

The Eagles beat Morton Ranch 25-21 at home last year but the Mavericks took the rematch, winning 21-14 two weeks ago at their place.

Oak Ridge came up short in the turnover department, committing three turnovers to none for Morton Ranch, and in the run game, averaging only 2.9 yards per carry on 29 attempts (83 yards).

"The biggest thing that hurt us against Morton Ranch was the mental errors," Rush said. "It was the uncommon mistakes, like jumping off-sides, dropped balls, and just the overall fundamentals of the football game."

The Eagles didn't make those mistakes again last week.

Quarterback Braden Letney threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another, and seven different players scored.

Lamar Handy hauled in a 31-yard scoring pass and ran for a 96-yard TD.

Rush said they simply settled down after an anxious opener for the team's less experienced players.

"We've got four guys returning on the offensive side of the ball, as well as on defense, so that first game was a lot of guys' first varsity game to play on Friday night, so we had a lot of first-game jitters and first-game mistakes," Rush said.

"And then this past week against Aldine, that was those guys' second game, so they had an opportunity to overcome all those things."

They overcame it in a big way, with the most points they've scored in a game under Rush, who is in his fourth season.

"Our running backs ran hard, our offensive line did a pretty good job as far as blocking (and) Braden did a good job of managing the game," Rush said.

Rush still is looking for more consistency in the passing game.

He's hoping to see it this week in another non-district tuneup against Klein Forest, which is 1-1 after last week's loss to Atascocita (43-7).

They meet at 6 p.m. Saturday at Woodforest Stadium.

Oak Ridge won a shootout 62-34 last season at Klein Memorial Stadium.

"Coach (Barry) Abercrombie does a good job with those guys," Rush said.

"He's in his fourth year there and they definitely have some talent on the football field, especially speed-wise, so we've got to come out and play Oak Ridge football as far as holding onto the ball, no turnovers, and we've got to do a good job of running the football and catching the football.

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"Defensively, we've got to do a good job of open-field tackling. They do a good job of spreading the ball out and trying to get the ball in their playmakers' hands."